Alonso, a gladiator at Monza

Yesterday, in the highest hospitality of Aston Martin Michael Douglas was there. And on the first floor, in a room by the stairs, there was another man ready to star in the second part of the film at Monza. ‘Gladiator’. Yesterday, it was as if Fernando Alonso had been thrown to the lions in an amphitheaterin fiction ‘Temple of Speed’. Without the weapons I wanted, without evolutions in the final races while the other teams in the central zone developed, and on a track that did not adapt well to the characteristics of Aston Martin, The man from Oviedo did wonders again and achieved a better result than expected with 11th position in the classificationsomething he already did last weekend at Zandvoort with 7th place in the ‘qualy’ that even the team can’t explain.

In qualifying, there was nothing left for him to get out of a car where his teammate Stroll was eliminated in the first change in Q1 (17th). In that car, Fernando was only 10 thousandths away from the 10th time which gave him access to Q3.

That was the best response for those analysts who, during the summer break, criticized him for his performance and because Stroll passed him in some classification or race. Superficial reviews that don’t talk about the complexity of the car and the little confidence it gave Alonso to push the limit. And none of the experiments that the man from Oviedo, with more experience and capacity for car development, had to do to try to extract important data. Alonso made it clear that he was at his best, but he lacked the car.

In racing, it’s more difficult

However, the Aston Martin sinks at race pace, so, against rivals that look better monza as haas, Williams and we have to see if Alpine and RBFernando will have to face the hungry lions again now, with a wooden sword. But he is ready to fight.

“Points are the best hope here, one or two at most, and I’ll run thinking it’s possible. Otherwise I won’t wear the helmet. I’ll attack from the start. I will try to recover positions and with the strategy or with the wheel or the ‘graining’, hopefully we will do a better job than the others. And if in the race 3 or 4 cars from the top do not finish, there will be good points and we have to take them”.

The Asturian needs to be stronger in the wheel management race. And when asked about it, he reiterated the need for new parts: “I’d rather have an updated floor or a new rear wing than a brain now. But yes, it might be a different race to Monza. In that sense, he showed great confidence about the next package of improvements to come, which he believes could represent a qualitative leap of two or three tenths.

Aston Martin’s goal is to improve to regain the leadership of the central zone and make sure they have everything clear for the creation of the car of 2025. For now, Alonso has to fight with his hands, his amazing racing mind and his courage. There is not much more.